From the Touchline
A lighter look at what is happening at Rugby World Cup 2011.
The letters
When Siale Piutau scored Tonga's first try against Canada on Wednesday, this completed a try-scoring streak for the Tongans in which each of the past five try-scorers' names ended in each of the five vowels:
I - Viliami Vaki, third try v South Africa at RWC 2007
A - Sukanaivalu Hufanga, first try v England at RWC 2007
E - Hale T-Pole - second try, England at RWC 2007
O - Alisona Taumalolo, try v New Zealand at RWC 2011
U - Siale Piutau, (first) try v Canada at RWC 2011
He said it
"I'll still feel a little bit of stiffness, but it's like that old farm vehicle in the morning: it smokes a bit but when you drive it, after an hour then it's hot and it can go."
Springbok Bakkies Botha delivers a Highveld take on how he intends to run off his achilles problems.
Bugging the locals
Quade Cooper seems to relish his status as public enemy No.1 in the land he left behind.
The Wallaby fly half’s hometown of Tokoroa, New Zealand, has quite the reputation as a rugby breeding ground, also having produced the likes of Richard Kahui, Keven Mealamu and Nicky Little.
But when journalists enquired if there was something in the water in this capital of the timber industry, they didn't quite get the answer they were expecting.
“I remember a few years back when I was living there, there was a lot of giardia (a waterborne parasite) in the water,” Cooper replied.
Heavy hitters for Russia-USA
Stadium Taranaki in New Plymouth has probably never seen a more star-studded crowd.
And probably never had more security measures in place to ensure the VIPs' safety.
Attending the USA-Russia match on Wednesday were: the Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Zhukov; New Zealand Prime Minister John Key; a Russian vodka billionaire Roustam Tariko; Miss Russia 2011, Natalia Gantimurova; and David Huebner, the US ambassador to New Zealand and Fiji.
A couple of hours before the big match, the venue was crawling with people in high-vis jackets, there was a significant police presence in and around the stadium and squads were searching offices for bombs.
Even the Rugby News Service office was searched and, after a thorough look in the bin and bags, declared clean.
Peak performance
During an international rugby career spanning 12 years and 114 Tests for Ireland, captain Brian O'Driscoll has learned to deal graciously with even the most hapless of interviewers.
Asked by a reporter what he had done with all the caps he has acquired, he let his questioner down gently.
"We don't get a cap every time, and that's not the first time someone has asked me that question,' replied the man they call Bod. "If I did I would need a pretty big cupboard."
Couldn't care less
Martin Johnson is quite content for his team to field the brickbats, so long as they keep on winning.
Asked if he thought the New Zealand rugby public had been impressed by England’s dogged victory over Argentina, he said: “I'm not holding my breath for any praise.”
Press pool
Touchline’s newshound in Rotorua wasn’t too impressed when a Samoa player bomb-dived into the pool at the team’s hotel on Thursday while nearby he was conducting an interview with 121kg wing Alesana Tuilagi.
The scribe’s digital recorder took a big hit from the splash but fortunately seems to be functioning OK. His anger quickly subsided when Tuilagi threw a notoriously maverick Kiwi TV reporter fully-clothed into the pool as his teammates yelled: “Smashed him bro!”
Tangled roots
The Samoa team received a good luck message from wrestler and Hollywood star The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson) before their Rugby World Cup opener against Namibia on Wednesday.
At a relaxed press conference the next day, team manager Matthew Tagitau was asked whether The Rock, whose mother is Samoan, was related to any players in the 30-man squad.
“Not that I know of directly," replied Tagitau. "But there’s a saying in Samoa that we have more roots than trees, so I’m sure we’re all related somehow.”
No thanks for the memories
Even for gnarled, World Cup-winning veterans like Steve Thompson, there are some collisions he would rather forget.
When asked whether he could remember the name of the Georgia player who clattered him so hard he had to leave the field at RWC 2003, the hooker replied that he couldn’t - and didn’t really want to, either.
High note
Wallaby prop Sekope Kepu's teammates now know first-hand how he acquired the vocal prowess that earned him the nickname "the baritone".
On a visit to Kepu's old school in Auckland, Wesley College, the assembled pupils burst into song in such fine voice that the Australians were left "humbled".
"It was such a lovely harmony," said Australia hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau. "I wish I had a harmonic voice like that. I just sing in the shower."
Opposites attract
Canucks fans were surprised to see members of the Tonga team turn up for a drink at their favourite pub in Whangarei following Tonga’s 25-20 loss to Canada.
Hours after the defeat, the players arrived at the Killer Prawn pub, which was decked out in the red and white of the victorious team's followers.
Undeterred by the celebrations around them, the Tongans mingled with Canadian supporters, members of Canada team staff and locals, in a true show of the uniting bonds of rugby.
Chilled beers
With temperatures hovering around 13 degrees Celsius, a group of men dressed as if they were taking to a Pacific island beach attracted plenty of attention as Samoa took on Namibia at Rotorua International Stadium on Wednesday.
They turned out to be eight Australians who are touring New Zealand in a camper-van while taking in as much rugby as they can.
“It’s freezing,” said Steve Fergus, 23. “That’s why we’ve got a few beers."